"Not used to this kind of mission, huh, general." I glanced over at the annoying smirk of my new mission partner.

"Shut up, Azer. I'm just no used to being in these strange human skins." I looked away from him before I actually stabbed my claws through his face. Azer had to have one of the most condescending and annoying faces known to lizard kind. It was made worse by his belief that he was above most other lizardfolk.

And unfortunately, he had a point. At the very least, when it came to combat and reconnaissance tasks. The man was hand raised by the emperor to be his personal assassin. If he had not been above the masses, he never would have made it to the role he currently held.

I peered out the window of the apartment we currently inhabited. The people aside went about their daily lives with smiles on their faces and confidence in their stride.

That oracle really knew how to keep morale up. They had lost so, yet none of these people seemed all that worried. More likely, it was just because they were nobles from the clans.

Nevertheless, it wasn't my problem to worry about their soldiers. My mission was to take away the person who gave them such morale and confidence. So that they would go back to how it used to be.

It was better off when they were too meek to attack.

As they were right now, they had actually started to make a significant amount of progress in their efforts. A fact that couldn't be allowed to happening.

My men and the Cruenlan still held onto the borders of the empire. But from the information we were getting, they were starting to wear out. The humans were making progress. A fact that was making all the empires and the entire lizardfolk nervous.

Once the humans made headway and managed to fortify their location, this whole situation would only increase in intensity. I pulled my head back in and shut the window behind me before heading to my room.

"Don't forget, general, today's the day that you have to do it. After today we're out of here, regardless of whether you succeed or not." I paused at the foot of my door before turning around to look at the belligerent fool.

"Your advice is unnecessary." I belied the true feelings. For an assassin hand-trained by the oracle, Azer talked a lot.

Too much if you asked me.

He simply shrugged at my statement before somehow managing to lean further into the wool-covered seat he occupied.

"Just your daily reminder not to piss off the grand patriarch. We wouldn't want you to die. Now would we?"

Patience truly is a virtue. I turned my back to him before entering my room. The door was left to slam behind me. Why had I been paired with him? His mouth was like a flowing river. It was a nearly endless stream of comments meant to anger you.

Once within the comfort of my room, I took the time to get myself ready. Today would be the day in which the fate of these two species would be decided. Would this war continue onwards senselessly, or would I be able to end it once and for all?

My bladed had been sharpened enough, and any more of it would be nonsensical. My mind was calm, but I wasn't in the mood to meditate and reflect. I had done enough of that over these past couple of days and throughout the lessons of the patriarch.

What I need right now was battle, blood, sweat, and women. Those were things that were really relaxed me. Spying, acting, and all this espionage wasn't meant for one like me. I understood why it had to be and accepted that. I just simply wanted to get this over with already.

My men were still waiting for me to return. Even with my trust in Cruenlan, I still felt an underlying unease. There was none I trusted more with men than myself.

"Well, I guess I should start this cleanup." Most of the evidence had already been burned up. What was left was minor things, but it had been drilled into my mind not to leave the slightest bit of evidence.

It took me only a couple of minutes to finish the cleanup, but I still went over the room several more times. They would know that their oracle was dead, and it wouldn't be hard to figure out who did it. It just that we didn't want them finding clues until we were out of their territory.

"Are you ready?" The muffled voice of Azer filtered through the door and reached me. I simply walked out of the room before getting the rest of the gear and placing them within the spacial bags.

My eyes roved over the apartment one more time before I head to the door. "Don't forget to remove the seals in the room," I said as I walked out the door.

"Way ahead of you."

Without looking back, we closed the door and moved down to the bottom floor of the apartment. There was no turning back now.

"Ah, sir William and Richard, will this be your final day?" The bubbly voice of Goerge greeted my ears as we walked into the reception area.

"Indeed, Goerge, thank you again for letting us stay in such a fine establishment." My voice rang with a rich warmness that usually wasn't there.

"Oh, it is my pleasure to have such fine guests." As he spoke, he hobbled around to get around and organized papers. I'd taken a liken to the wizened old man.

"So, George."

"Yes, sir?" He looked up from his face with an inquisitive look on his face.

"I have a favor to ask of you." As I spoke, I leaned in slightly.

"And what might that be, sir?"

"Forget us, and erase all the details of our stay." As I spoke, I touched his mind with my qi and dived in. He convulsed slightly as his meager qi attempted to stop what was happening, but my qi was able to slip right through his defenses. Within milliseconds I was within his mind, and in the next second, I was shaking hands with an oblivious Goerge.

I turned to look at Azer. He was already at the exit door with a new disguise on. As I walked towards him, I felt the flesh on my skin morph as the features changed.

I tapped at his mind and entered as I was granted access. "Did you get the rest?"

"I did it a couple hours ago. They should all still be fast asleep." His answer was curt and to the point.

Then I pulled myself from his mind before I would be forced out. As we strode through the streets and towards our destination. I was grateful that the snarky annoyance of a man was gone and now in his place was a true coldblooded assassin.

"Let's get to work then."

As we strode down the street and approached the resident of the oracle, the number of patrols continued to steadily escalate. It was time for us to move to stealth. With a simple glance at each other, we confirmed that we were both on the same page.

Azer was the first one to break of and walk in a different direction. To people instantly separating at the same time is a little suspicious. He would off and be my eyes and ears. The lookout, so to speak. He did have the ability to face the oracle, but he could incapacitate most foes.

I felt a slight mental prodding as he asked for permission to my mind. Within an instant, we were connected and could see and feel what the other could. This way, he was also slightly protected from the oracle's view.

A couple more blocks down, and I took a turn into a sparsely populated alleyway. Within a couple seconds, I arrived at a door and knocked. I heard the shuffling of feet and the squealing of a young child before hurried footsteps approach the door.

"William!" As the owner of the footsteps opened the door, I was greeted by the sight of a rather petite freckled lady. Without pause, I gently pushed in the door and kissed her. She giggled as we pulled apart.

"Mama!"The wail of a little boy could be heard upstairs.

"William, not while the kids are here." She said as she began to head towards the voice. As she turned around to address the boy, I jumped into her mind. Like Goerge, there was a slight delay as her qi attempted to fight mine, but it was too late. With simple ease, I erased all memory of myself from her head. Then did the same with the children.

They all fell unconscious once I was done.

Without a single thought, I rushed downstairs into the basement. I once again changed my features as I arrived at the area. With a steady gait, I walked towards the grate on the basement floor and opened it. I then hopped in and closed the grate behind me as I walked towards my final destination.

This was the only grate that was connected to the home of the oracle.

It was also unknown to most people except perhaps the oracle herself. We'd discovered within our first few months of living within the city. Once we'd found it, the rest of the plan had come together quite simply.

Once in, I changed into my assassin gear and shoved my current clothing in its place. Changing in the sewers was unpleasant, but I didn't have to worry about smelling due to the properties of the equipment. It suppressed all scent and didn't absorb water from the outside.

Once done, I picked up my pace and ruched down the sewage path.

We had given ourselves quite a large window of time, but I wasn't keen on wasting any of it against someone like her. It took me only a couple minutes to arrive as I blitzed through the system just fast enough to not leave any qi traces.

A quick check from Azer's view showed me that he had a clear sight of the target from up in the sky. She was currently in her yard. The guards were quite a distance away from her.

My fingers twitched as they awaited the kill, but I stilled my hand and slowly made my way out the drain. Once out, I called upon the blessing of the mist. I always had it active, but given that she would be focusing on me entirely, I would need much greater power to escape her precognitive sight.

I stood in the enormous yard where she was located. I did not have a direct view of her since she was behind the hedge at the pound. With a quick mental signal, Azer dropped the silencing runes into the yard. With a quick flick of my qi, I activated them. The unnatural silence that descended upon the yard alerted her.

From Azer's view, I could see her head snap up and as she looked around.

"Kill her quickly." Azer whispered into my mind. It wasn't necessary. My qi was already coiled, and my dagger was already drawn.

I had morphed back into my original form and entered a low stance. My blade glowed a deep red color as my qi powered up its runes. It was a process usually accompanied by a veritable deluge of noise, but now it was silent.

In an instant, I burst out and moved covered the distance with milliseconds. The air blew wildly and scattered leaves, but it was silent. I took a sharp right at the hedge before turning again and rushing towards the oracle. Her back was turned to me.

All within less than a second, so much for not leaving a qi trace.

As my blade reached her, surprise passed through me as she leaned away from its edge. There was a slight smirk on her face as I passed the location she had been.

The smirk was wiped off her face as I suddenly changed direction and aimed my sword at her heart.

The surprise on her face was quite a sight to behold. The look of determination that followed immediately afterward was not.

MY body was thrust back as a gale of wind slammed into me. I quickly regained my footing and faced the enemy. Once again, I was in my low stance.

She pulled out what seemed to be staff out of a bag of holding before entering a stance of her own.

From the Azer's view, I saw that the guards still hadn't noticed anything. That was good, but I didn't want to drag this out too long.

Without a second thought, I blasted towards her as a veritable vortex of winds pushed her towards me.

Dammit, this wasn't supposed to be a fight.